الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Pneumonia can be caused by a wide variety of bacteria, viruses and fungi in the air we breathe. Identifying the cause of your pneumonia can be a major step in getting the proper treatment. Current clinical approaches for pneumonia surveillance, early detection, and conventional culture-based microbiology in the critically ill are inadequate for optimal-targeted antibiotic treatment and stewardship. Lung ultrasound (LUS) has evolved considerably over the last years with respect to its theoretical and operative aspects. It is more advantageous than other imaging modalities that it can be easily repeated at bedside without exposing patients to radiation. In this work we aimed to estimate the role of chest ultrasonography and CT scan in assessment of atypical pneumonia in correlation with microbiological diagnosis. It was a descriptive cross-sectional study that was carried out on 67 patients diagnosed with atypical pneumonia admitted at Ain-Shams university hospitals in the period from July 2019 to June 2021. Study populations were divided into three groups according to the causative agent. All patients were screened by ultrasound and CT scan 24 hours apart. The following results were obtained and showed a statistical significance: from the present study it was concluded that: LUS may likely be an important tool for clinical assessment and early diagnosis of pneumonia and may aid in differentiation between etiological organisms. LUS may play an important role in triaging pneumonia especially during pandemics and reduce the number of health care professionals exposed during stratification of the patients. B lines, thick irregular pleural lines and subpleural consolidations are not specific to certain causative organism and can be observed in conditions such as viral pneumonias and ARDS. However, these findings, particularly when combined, can be an aid for diagnosis during epidemics when pretest probability is high. Dynamic air bronchogram identification by LUS can correlate with bacterial causes of pneumonia rather than viral causes. Higher LUS scoring systems is associated with more disease severity. Some comorbidities can be associated with higher severity scores and more severe illness among the affected population. |